Korean Red Cross President Park Kyung-seo, right, shakes hands with Pak Yong-il, vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, at a hotel on Mount Geumgang, North Korea, June 22, at the beginning of Red Cross talks for reunions of families separated by the Korean War. / Joint Press Corps

By Park Ji-won

The issue of North Korean restaurant workers' 2016 defection to the South is likely to become a major hindrance in inter-Korean relations, after Pyongyang hinted at cancelling planned reunions of separated families in August if Seoul does not return them.

Uriminzokkiri, an external North Korean propaganda website, criticized the Moon Jae-in government's lukewarm reaction to the issue Friday, citing recent testimony that said the defection was orchestrated by South Korea's spy agency.

The criticism follows a recent press briefing by United Nations Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana that some of the 12 workers at a North Korean restaurant in China did not know they were being taken to South Korea. The manager of the restaurant also said in a recent interview that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) threatened to tip-off to North Korea that he had been working with it if he didn't bring the workers to the South.

"If the issue of repatriating our female workers is not resolved as soon as possible, there will be obstacles in the planned reunions of separated families and relatives between North and South as well as inter-Korean relations," Uriminzokkiri said.

It was the North's first move to connect the return of the North Koreans to the family reunions amid ongoing discussions on details about the August event following a reconciliatory atmosphere during the past several months.

Although the North had said there would be no family reunions unless the workers would be sent back, it has not mentioned it since the two Koreas agreed on the reunion event in the Panmunjeom Declaration, April 27.

The website defined the defection as abduction conducted by the former Park Geun-hye administration, and criticized the Moon administration for not taking proper measures, calling for a thorough investigation and punishment of the wrongdoers.

"The real problem is the shameless action by current South Korean officials including Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon who defend the wrongdoing of the past conservative administration even when the dark secret of the conspiracy was disclosed," it said.

"The attitude toward the issue of the workers, who were abducted by the Park Geun-hye administration, will show the South Korean government's determination to improve inter-Korean relations. By sending the women to the North, it should show its strong will to fulfill the Panmunjeom Declaration."

North Korea has a history of unilateral cancelling inter-Korean talks _ it has often done so to gain leverage for what it wants. Concerns are that the North may try to cancel the family reunion, set for Aug. 20 to 26 at Mount Geungamg in North Korea, to achieve the return of the workers.

Pyongyang cancelled high-level talks in May, citing joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. But it was said the real reason was Pyongyang's anger at high-profile defector Thae Yong-ho's condemnation of the regime.

Regarding the North's criticism, the unification ministry said it has "no comment" but added that it will continue to make efforts to implement the Panmunjeom Declaration which specifically states holding the reunions.

The spokeswoman added that North made no comments on the defector issue during the high-level talks for family reunion last month. Few days earlier, the ministry said the defectors came to the South of their free will.